About a year ago I recieved a phone call, out of the blue, from Arne Hendriks of Platform21, to talk about my SMASH REPAIR project, the second prototype of which he had seen on my website. He wanted to exhibit it, I told him it was in the bin. I asked, could I make another for Platform21? Yes. Would Platform21 pay for it? Yes. Could I build it at Platform21? Definitely yes. And could I also present a lecture about my ideas and philosophy of repairing (and also get paid for that)? Yes…!
Well, its not often that I hear “yes” so much, nor have such an enjoyable phone call. But that inclusive and agreeable attitude is what made Platform21 so unique; an open-minded position that drew artists and designers from all over the world and from all areas of the community.
Platform21 was conceived as experimental phase, an incubator, to precede a bigger art and design centre called Supermaker which would have its own custom built workshop and exhibition space, however, and unfortunately, I just heard that Supermaker will not get off the ground due to a lack of funding. Which means Platform21 has finally ended. A shame, but I think everyone involved should be proud of the remarkable things Platform21 achieved. The website will remain up as an archive of the cool projects they did (Hacking Ikea, the Breakfast Machine, Repair Manifesto etc.)
Platform21, goodbye.
